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While many classmates say teenage suicide victim Matthew Montagna was bullied at school, he never shared those concerns at home, his family said Monday.

Home alone on Friday night, the 16-year-old fatally shot himself with a hunting rifle at the family's Meade Street residence in Jenkins Township, officials said.

Almost immediately, classmates pointed the finger at bullying they said he endured inside Pittston Area High School and organized a memorial vigil to spotlight bullying. Now, the school and police are investigating those claims.

"I don't know if it was the reason. There could be a lot of reasons. People did call him harsh names, like retard," Matt's twin brother, Nick, said Monday, adding people also taunted Matt for his frizzy, long hair before he recently cut it short. "I didn't know what was going through his head. Maybe he couldn't take it. Everything had to build up inside of him."

Matt left behind a note, which Jenkins Township police took as part of their investigation. Police declined to reveal the contents of the letter or say if it shed light on why the teen took his life. Investigators said they hadn't received any specific allegations of bullying, but encouraged classmates to come forward.

"The cops are trying to find out if there was an issue with the bullying. It was the first thing they asked. I said I didn't know. He never told me of anybody," said Matt's father, Christopher Montagna, 58, who hadn't read the note.

Montagna said his son made it clear he "hated" attending Pittston Area each day he would drop him off at school.

"But he never told me why," Montagna said. "As far as the bullying concerns, it could have been and he just never told me. He wasn't one to come home and say so and so threatened me today."

Prior to the school year, Matt seemed to want to lessen the time he spent at Pittston Area. He enrolled in the welding program at the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center, spending half his day there and half at Pittston Area, his family said.

Pittston Area Superintendant Dr. Michael Garzella said the district received no complaints about alleged bullying of Matt leading up to his death.

"There's no way it would have been let go. It would have been dealt with," he said.

Throughout Monday, the district conducted an internal investigation, interviewing students to see if they knew about any bullying. Meanwhile, the district had grief counselors available to students.

Garzella noted the district's staff was trained to spotlight bullying as part of a new anti-bullying policy.

"Whether bullying played a role in it or not, we have to put preventative measures in place," Garzella said. "Kids need to be aware their actions could result in tragic things like this."

At dismissal on Monday, Bethann Concert and her two children who attend Pittston Area held anti-bullying signs outside the school to draw awareness to the issue. Concert, 35, said her daughter has been bullied at the school for years and the district did not do enough to address the issue.

Her daughter and the alleged bully were called into a room face-to-face in an attempt to resolve their differences, but the problems immediately continued afterward, she said.

"It went back to normal, if not worse, for telling," Concert said.

Christina Concert, 16, a classmate and friend of Matt, said she was forced to leave Pittston Area last year to enroll in cyber-school to avoid the bullying. She returned to Pittston Area this year and hasn't had any problems yet, she said.

"Bullying needs to stop. It could kill somebody. Words hurt more than you think," Christina said.

Matt's family acknowledges he was a loner who spent most of his time at home in his room. He'd often sleep for hours right after school and stay up late playing video games, surfing the Internet and painting, they said.

"My big thing with him is he didn't go out like other kids went out. He was home all the time," said Matt's mother, Diane.

She said he never told her about any bullies, but conceded "there might have been some kid who was really hassling him and he hated life."

There also were no warnings of what he planned to do, she said.

"It doesn't make sense he would go to that length to do what he did," she said.

Diane Montagna said her son had a loyal longtime friend who moved away a few years ago, and he never really had another person that close in his life.

"Every kid needs one good friend," she said. "He had friends, but just that one person that understood him that maybe he could have talked to."

She said she was thankful for the support from friends and strangers who are organizing the vigil, set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Albert West Park on Swallow Street in Pittston.

"I think they're a good thing, so they don't forget about him, that it's not in vain he's gone," she said. "It's something to celebrate his life. He was here. He knows these people. They knew him. They all feel bad."

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2055 @cvbobkal

QUICK INFO:

Anyone with information on bullying against Matthew Montagna is asked to call Jenkins Township police at 570-654-1281 A vigil for Montagna will be held 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Albert West Park on Swallow Street in Pittston.

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